arty wrote:
have a FICO score of 660 and rising.
Should I just wait until Aug to try again?
Did I miss some warning about this?
Thanks
No you didn't miss any warning.
The queen of "perfect financial advice", is not so perfect.
If you did anything wrong, it was blindly following the advice of a multi millionaire who makes her money giving advice to people who often live paycheck to paycheck.
She is after all still basically an entertainer. She is not a credit councelor. She doesn't gather all the facts in a particular situation and offfer a taylor made solution. She offers blanket solutions that don't always work and may backfire. Suze never gives warnings or suggest caution to people who are willing to follow her advice.
In these forums we often warn people that their "Mileage May Vary". We at least would caution not to app for cards if you have low credit scores. High utilization, or serious derogs like BKs in file. I guess Suze overlooked that part when giving a blanket solution for a complex problem.
Suze's personality has no room for contemplation that her advice could hurt some people. In order to warn people that the advice could be wrong, it takes a humble personal who possesses at least a little humility.
This is just my opinion, but I am no expert, and I wight be wrong.
As far as apping again in August, that depends upon whether your credit scores increase substantially or not. If you substantially pay down the balances and raise your scores significantly, you might have a chance. It is still highly unlikely that Suze's (outdated) advice will help you in the current credit climate.
arty wrote:
Within 30 days, I got 3 credit cards that raised my apr's to 29.9% from 21% (I was told I should be paying 12%). Did all this stuff cause that to happen?Obviously, following Suze's advice made you look desperate for credit in the eyes of your creditors. First you read a letter to them and then you applied for more credit from other lenders.
I myself, would really like to know what that magic letter said. I wonder if the wording was a red flag all by itself.
The chances are that the wording of the letter when added to a BK in file might have been the problem even before apping for another card.
The letter didn't by any chance mention that you qualified for lower interest rates based on offers that you were receiving from others? It didn't by any chance say that you would take your business elsewhere if they didn't lower your rates? In either cae having a BK in file would have made either claim a reason for your creditors to raise your rates since they wouldn't believe that you could actually get lower rates elsewhere because of your credit history.
In any event, you will certainly be in a lot better shape when the BK falls off in August. The problem is that credit availability will probably be even tighter for consumers by then also. Banks will definitely be raising interest rates even higher six months from now, not lowering them.
There might be some decent "temporary" lower rates available at that time. In order to qualify, if they do materialize, I would pay down as much debt as possible between now and then.
Again that is just my considered opinion and I might be wrong. I am not an expert and I don't have a television show. I don't know if you are a man or a woman, so I won't address you as "girlfriend".
Edited to ad :
I just read the post where you said.
"Maks, No bully letter. You call and read a script that you simply and nicely state that because of my current FICO score, I should be in the 12% range and would they please consider lowering my interest rate. If they say no, ...........
You say thanks, and also that YOU WILL PROBABLY GO SHOPPING FOR A NEW CARD."
I guessed it was something like that. The letter invited them to raise the rates because you made a threat that you couldn't carry out. They knew that nobody will give you a better deal with a BK and maxed utilization. You had no way of knowing that. In the future you can ask questions in this forum before acting on any advice, that you have been given elsewhere, even if you get it from Suze Orman.